Continuous annealing-furnace



M. A. TURTLE.

CONTINUOUS ANNEALING FURNACE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 2,4920- Patented Nov. 30, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET I.

H l I l I I I. I

II II III M. A. TURTLE.

CONTINUOUS ANNEALING FURNACE.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 2. I920.

1 60,334, Patented Nov. 30, 1920.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

J Ml f o ll l l n f UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

MORTON A. TURTLE, OF EAST ORANGE, NELV JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO W. S. ROCKWELL COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

CON TINUO'U S- ANNEALING-FURNACE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Nov. 30, 1920.

Application filed June 2. 1920. Serial No. 385,928.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it knownthat I, MORTON A. TURTLE, a subject of the King of Great Britain, residing at 19 Dodd street, East Orange, county of Essex, and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Continuous Annealing-Furnaces, fully described and represented in the following specification and the accompanying draw ings, forming a part of the same.

The present invention relates to means for heating the ends of stock-pieces such tubes, bars, 620., which require annealing for a portion of their length, to permit some special treatment of such portion.

The chief object of the invention is to support the articles adjustably and removably upon a conveyer with their ends projecting into the heated zone of the furnace to the precise extent desired, and to efect the removal of the stock-pieces from the conveyer automatically as they move outward from the heating-chamber.

Another object is to furnish means for guiding the stock-pieces in their movement through the heating'chamber and at the same time restrict the application of heat to the upper ends of the stock-pieces by water-cooled pipes extended by the sides of the stock-pieces, and operating to steady and cool them in their movement through the heating-chamber.

These objects are attained by forming the bottom of the heating-chamber with an opening extended throughout its entire length and operating a conveyer beneath such opening with clips adapted to grasp the stockpieces elastically, and hold them in an upright position with their upper ends ex-= tended into the heating-chamber or zone.

The clips are formed with elastic jaws between which the stock-pieces are forced or placed by hand, the projection of the stockpieces above the clips being determined by the extent that is desired, of exposure to the heat.

The stock-pieces are inserted in the clips near the inlet of the heating-chamber, and an adjustable shelf is arranged beneath the conveyer-chain at this point upon which the stock-pieces may be supported as they are inserted in the clips, and the extension above and below the clips thus be automatically determined.

The construction and operation of this mvention will be understood by reference to the annexed drawing, which illustrates one embodiment of the invention.

Figure l is a horizontal section of the furnace taken on line 1-4 in Fig. 2; Fig. 2 is a vertical section taken on line 2-2 in Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the duplex stripper; Fig. 4 is a vertical section on line 4t in Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a cross-section of the bridge-beam, and the conveyer with clips beneath the same; Fig. 6 is a side elevation of the chain-conduit with three clips for supporting stock-pieces; Fig. 7 is a plan of the same conduit with three duplex clips, two of them having stock-pieces held therein; and Fig. 8 is a diagram illustrating the operation. of the stripper in removing the stockpieces from the clips.

The furnace is shown with oblong heating-chamber 1 having two parallel longitiulinal openings 6 in the bottom, with a bridge 0 extended between them and protected upon its upper side by a covering of refractory material 0'.

The openings extend throughout the entire length of the chamber a, and through the end-walls a. The bridge is supported at its ends by extending outside of the furnacechamber at each end of the same, beneath lugs 0 upon the end-plates of the furnacejacket, to which lugs said ends are attached by bolts 2?.

The furnace is shown sustained at opposite ends upon frames (5 which carry a bedplate a? (see Fig. 4) upon which the masonry and j acket f of the furnace are built.

ch of the frames has a cross-bar g from which a column h is extended centrally upward to support a conduit 6 beneath the bridge in which conduit or channel the chain c of the conveyer is guided, as shown in Figs. 5 and '7.

The conduit is shown in Fig. 1 without the chain, as the scale of the drawing is too small to represent such parts in detail.

The end-walls a of the furnace are furnished with vertical slots 2' coincident with the longitudinal openings 6, to permit the upper ends oi the stock-pieces to pass into the heating-chamber. An adjustable cover or door-plate j is mounted adjustably upon the jacket over the upper ends of the slots 2', as shown in 2, to cover the portions of the slots above the stock-pieces is, and thus prevent any needless escape of the heated gases.

Burner-openings m are shown in the sidewalls of the heating-chamber and vent-fines n to carry oil the burnt gases.

It is immaterial how the heating-chamber is heated, provided a heated Zone is maintained above the level of the pipes a past which the stock-pieces project into the chamber, and which require a uniform heated atmosphere to operate upon them, as they progress uniformly through the heatingchamber by the movement of the conveyor.

The conduit 0 for carrying the chain through the heating-chamber is a shallow trough extended outside the ends of the furnace to the driving-wheel 0 and the returnwheel 0 over which wheels the chain passes in its movement from the outlet to the inletend of the chamber. The chainlinlrs e. as shown in Figs. 6 and 7 are furnished each with an upwardly projecting lug or ear 0*, upon the opposite sides of which flat leaves 8 of spring-metal are clamped, and the ends of the leaves bent to .t'orm jaws s, at opposite sides 01": a socket t adapted to receive the stock-pieces to le heated. These jaws form an elastic clip with its opening extended vertically, so that any round object of suitable size, as shown at in Fig. 7, may be pressed into the jaws and held elastically thereby in a vertical position, the frictional pressure of the jaws being adjusted to prevent any accidental displacement of the stock-pieces therein, but permitting their removal by contact with a stationary stripper.

The jaws oi the clip are inclined backwardly to the direction of the conveyers movement. which is indicated by the arrow 7) in Fig. 7, to facilitate the removal of the stock-pieces from the jaws by the stripper which is shown in Figs. 1, 2, 3 and 8.

Thestripper is shown formed of two wedge-shaped pieces Q sustained upon, above and below the delivery-end of the conduit 6' to operate simultaneously upon the inner sides of the stock-pieces where they project above and below the clips.

The nearer end of each. wedge-shaped piece is narrow enough to pass between the stock-pieces in two opposite clips and as they move toward the widerpart of the stripper the stock-pieces'are pushed out of the clips, as shown in Fig. 8, and fall into a receptacle below the stripper.

Water-pipes a are extended along the lower edges of the openings 6 and are so spaced as to fit the sides of the stock-pieces and guide them in their movements through the openings, and also by their cooling ef- "feet to limit the extent to which the stockpieces are heated.

The bridge carries two or" the pipes next the inner sides of the stock-pieces, and the other pipes are sustained by hook-pieces w upon the bed-plate d.

- Cold water is circulated through the pipes to eiiect the desired result, the connections for supplying and discharging the fluid being shown respectively at "a and o in Figs. 1 and 2.

will be observed in Fig. 4 that the cooling-pipes u are located at the lower edges of the openings 7) through which the upper ends of the stock-pieces travel, and these )ipes therefore cool the atmosphere below the openings and in great measure determine the point to which the pipes are heated.

It will be understood that when this annealin furnace is in ope 'ation the operator stands near the openings i and sets the stockpieces to be annealed successively upon the shell 0 and presses them siclewise into the clips.

The shelf or gage is made adjustable by means of a slotted foot g so as to vary at pleasure the projection of the stoclnpieces below and above the clip. When the gage is adjusted it therefore sets a succession of the stock-pieces in the same relation to the 1\'GYGI', so that the upper ends of the as project an equal amount into the lonal openings through the bottom of urnace.

ns invention furnishes means for readre ulating and determining the amount of; surface exposec to the heat upon each of the stock-pieces; and it furnishes great 0011- venience for attaching the stock-pieces removably to the conveyor. It also enables the conveyor to carry two rows or series ofthe stock-pieces, and to strip them automati cally from the conveyor after they are heated.

The means attached to the chain for supporting the stock-pieces duringthe annealing operation is shown herein as jaws adapted to embrace cylindrical pieces, such form for the jaws permitting stock-pieces of such cylindrical form to be projected'more or less above the level of the clips into the heated zone of the furnace. I

A uniform adjustment of the stock-pieces in the clip is readily eiiected, as described herein, by a stationary shelf upon which the stock-pieces rest, as they are fitted to the jaws of the clips.

lVith stock-pieces of other term the clips would be correspondingly modified to receive and discharge them, and the stripper would also, if necessary, be modified to 0perate upon such different pieces.

Having thus set forth the nature of the invention what is claimed herein is: v

1. An annealing furnace having a heating-chamber with bottom-opening, a conveyer movable below the same and having clips to support stock-pieces adjustably with their upper ends in the chamber.

2. An annealing furnace having a heating-chamber with bottom-opening extended throughout its length, a conveyer movable below the same and having clips supporting stock-pieces vertically within the said opening, and water-pipes arranged parallel with the said opening and operating to guide and cool the stock-pieces in their movement through the same.

An annealing furnace having a longitudinal opening in the bottom, a chain movable below the said opening, o'lips attached to the chain suitable for gripping stockpieces elastically and adjustably, and a stationary stripper arranged to automatically remove the stock-pieces from the clips.

4. An annealing furnace having aheating-chamber with a conveyer movable below the bottom of the chamber, and elastic clips upon the conveyer-chain to support stockpieces detachably with their upper ends inside the chamber.

An annealing furnace having a longitudinal opening in the bottom, a chain movable below the said opening, clips attached to the chain suitable for gripping, stockpieces elastically and adjustably, the jaws of the said clip being inclined backwardly from the direction of their movement. to facilitate the automatic stripping of the stockpieces from the clips.

6. An annealing furnace having a heating-chamber with bottomopening extended throughout its length, and a conveyer movable beneath such opening and provided with clips for supporting such stoclcpieces in the opening and chamber, and a shelf acting as a gage beneath the chain near the inlet of the heating-chamber, to support the stock plieces adjustably when applying them to the c ips.

7. An annealing furnace having a heating-chamber with bottom-opening, a conveyer having a chain movable below the chamber with duplex clips attached to the chain at intervals, with vertically extending jaws at opposite sides of the chain to sup port two series of stock-pieces adjustably with their upper ends in the chamber.

8. An amiealing furnace having a heating-chamber with bottom-opening throughout its length, a chain movable beneath the opening with duplex clips for supporting two sets of stock-pieces vertically, and a stationary duplex stripper near the dischargeend of the chamber to simultaneously remove both. sets of stock-pieces from the clips.

9. An annealing furnace having a heating-chamber with parallel bottom-openings throughout its length, a bridge-beam having refractory covering extended between the two openings with supports outside the ends of the heating-chamber, a chain movable beneath the bridge-beam with duplex clips extended beneath the openings and supporting stock-pieces vertically in the said openings, and a stripper for automatically removing the stock-pieces from the clips.

10. An annealing furnace having a heatingchamber with parallel bottom-openings throughout its length, a bridge-beam having refractory covering extended between the two openings to the ends of the heatingchamber, a conveyer movable beneath'the bridgebeam and having means to grip the stock-pieces detachably and conveying them through the openings, and water-pipes extending at the sides of the openings to guide and cool the stock-pieces below the bottom of the heating-chamber.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand.

MORTON A. TURTLE. 

